Interview With Todd Gross

Meet Todd Gross, the new VP of Global Product Safety and Quality

Todd Gross joined Polaris in 2017 as the vice president of Global Product Safety and Quality (GPSQ). We sat down with Todd to get to know him and his thoughts around product safety and quality at Polaris.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Todd: I grew up in a small town in Michigan, received my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech University and Masters in Engineering from the University of Michigan. I worked at Ford for the first 20 years of my career and was most recently at Key Safety Systems.

What are some of your early impressions when it comes to product safety and quality at Polaris?

Todd: From my very first interview with the company, the focus and attention on safety and quality was evident.

I’ve also been impressed with the practicality that’s built into everyday work and the quickness we have in making decisions and changes. For example, our post-sales surveillance system constantly scans extensive and diverse data and provides feedback on what is happening with our products once they leave our control.

How does safety and quality work at Polaris?

Todd: Polaris reorganized the safety and quality organization in 2016 to create one centralized function responsible for guiding our safety and quality initiatives. The team collects insights and data from across the organization, from our post sales surveillance team and engineers, to our teams that are on the manufacturing line building the product. And while there is one team that shepherds the work, there is a sense of ownership in our safety commitment across the company. Any one, within any team, can and should speak up when they see something that doesn’t meet our standards, so we can take swift action to address the issue.

We are seeing the results from our efforts and will continue to enhance our processes to efficiently identify, monitor, fix, and, most importantly, prevent product issues.

What is the vision for Polaris’ Global Product Safety team at Polaris?

Todd: Polaris is making safety and quality a competitive advantage for the company, and this team is helping define the roadmap to how we achieve that goal.

More than that, I also see this team championing a culture that promotes personal ownership of uncompromising product safety and quality. What does this mean? It means every employee, regardless of role, takes quality personal. Great companies are built upon those great choices. By leveraging our talent and expertise, organizational strengths, and infrastructure, we can deliver industry-leading results that exceed the expectations of our customers.